ASA UK Bans Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Advert

The advert shows scenes of exploding buildings, helicopter firing rockets and such other scenes. The ad contained captions such as “AM3RICA”, “3NGLAND”, AND “FRANC3” had been previously cleared by Clearcast on a condition that the ad won’t be shown programmes that might be watched by under-16s.

Despite these restrictions, two viewers have filed a complaint saying that the ad was shown before start of Premier League football match on Sky Sports 1 and have also challenged that the advert had been broadcast during the day (at 2:30pm) when children could be watching. One of the complainers claimed that he was watching the football game with two kids: a two year old and a four year old.

Activision however claimed that the ad wasn’t screened before, during or immediately after a children’s programme. The publisher also said that the ad had been specially edited to remove all violent and threatening content for the 2.30pm screening.

ASA has upheld the complaints and said “Although we noted that the ad was only shown during the football, we concluded that it was inappropriate for broadcast during the day when young children might be watching and the ex-kids restriction was insufficient.”

Ravi is the founder of Parity Media and currently acting as an editor of ParityNews.com. He is a technology enthusiast with keen interest in information security. Ravi has over 6 years of experience and is keen on raising general awareness about technology in society.